Wilson looked around, confused. What was the abyss? As if his question was heard, the commentator spoke again, explaining everything to be known about the abyss.
"Ladies and gentlemen, as tradition requires, every year, a hundred of this city's most notorious criminals; murderers, robbers, hard-core gamblers, rapists and the likes will battle at the execution ground. The last man standing is proclaimed the winner and gets his freedom and a chance to be hired by a noble family. The rest of the fighters are returned to prison to fight another year...….if fate permits!"
"If fate permits? What does that mean?" Wilson muttered to himself.
"It means, if you are lucky to survive!" An old woman who looked very energetic answered him. She had suddenly appeared behind him. When? Wilson had no idea!
"I don't understand!" Wilson said, facing the old woman. She was taken aback. What was there not to understand.
"What is a naïve young boy like you doing in this kind of place? Did you offend a noble?"
"I think so!!"
"What a pity! What could you have done to warrant such fate?" The woman clicked her tongue. The announcer was still rambling on about each prisoner. The viewers were starting to place their bets on their favourites.
"I will just put it in simple terms for you! You see, every year, a hundred prisoners, the worst this city has to offer are put together to fight themselves to the death. Usually, only one person comes out alive, but there are few situations where a few of the losers survive. It is basically a kill or be killed competition. People place their bets and the nobles see it as a form of entertainment. And as it turns out, more and more of the commoners are beginning to enjoy this inhumane act themselves. Also, just so you know, sometimes, some of the prisoners are not bad people. They are just unfortunate enough to have offended the nobles. As you have probably noticed by now, the nobles run everything in this city. They can easily manipulate the city guards and prison wardens into doing whatever they wish. After all, you are not the first person to antagonize the nobles and they all end up the same way, they are framed, thrown into jail, sent to the abyss and killed! And as things seem to be going, you are most likely to suffer the same fate!" The old woman said and shook her head.
Wilson was devastated.
'These bastards! How could they do this to innocent people? Imprisoning them after framing them? They were making the innocent ones look like the bad guys and themselves look like the good ones. They must have staged everything before a person could be imprisoned. And what next? The framed prisoners are sent to fight to the death? How despicable!' Wilson thought to himself. His face contorting in anger. What was he framed for anyway? As if the announcer had heard, his name was mentioned next.
"Next is Wilson Wilder..." Wilson looked around before his eyes settled on a large transparent screen that displayed his face up close for everyone to see. His face was muddied and scratched which only made him look sexier and did not hide the gentle, innocent look his eyes clearly portrayed.
".....He might look young and innocent but he is as bad as bad can get. From cases of small theft to large scale robbery to torture and a few cases of murder. There are also almost twenty cases of rape recently added to his record after his most recent confession."
What?! Wilson could not believe his ears. He looked at the faces of the people he could see from where he stood. Their faces grimaced in disgust as soon as they heard about his rape confession. Especially the ladies that appeared to be admiring him before. It appears they are not too flustered by the idea of him killing and stealing but they definitely hated the idea of rape.
'Well, I guess rape is a lot worse uh!' Wilson thought to himself.
The announcer mentioned two names after his and the countdown for the start of the match started. The viewers counted louder as the start of the match grew nearer.
…three…two…one….
Wilson clenched his fists and immediately noted that his gauntlets were gone. Wait, he had not taken them before running out the window. He quickly looked around at the prisoners and he could see that they held all kinds of weapons. Even the old woman had daggers in both hands. Something felt wrong. Wilson looked around again trying to understand what is wrong with the atmosphere when he felt a hand on his shoulder. The hand belonged to the old woman.
"Oh, I forgot to mention! Some men came to the prison earlier today and promised half a million credit notes to whoever could kill a sixteen year old boy who will arrive late at the abyss today. And as long as the killer was not dead by the end of the match, he would be cleared of all charges and crimes. So, I just wanted to tell you cos you look confused. I wish you good luck in your endeavors!" And with that said, the old woman simply vanished into the crowd of prisoners that had surrounded him tightly. Wilson felt like dying. And to worsen the situation, the announcer spoke some annoying words.
"Oh my! All the prisoners seem to be after the young rapist! Perhaps he had raped some of their sisters or close acquaintances."
"You bastard! You raped and killed my sister five months ago after tricking and drugging me. I killed all of them except their young leader! The image is very blurry but I'm sure you are the leader!" An incredibly thin co-prisoner shouted at him. The viewers began to murmur as the other prisoners that surrounded him started shouting about him killing and raping and stealing from them while approaching him slowly, brimming with killing intent.
Wilson began to understand what his mother once said about people always jumping into conclusions. He thought about how to survive this onslaught. There was no way he was surviving a one against ninety-nine without a plan. His mind spun fast, ideas flowed in and out of his brain as he analysed and quickly discarded them upon realizing their uselessness. As he thought long and hard, the prisoners inched closer very slowly, eyeing him intensely. The viewers were getting very impatient until one of them voiced out
"Just kill him already!" The other viewers immediately shouted in agreement and the prisoners rushed at Wilson, all at the same time.
Wilson knew this was the end for him. Tears began to fall from his eyes as he once again remembered his mother's disapproval towards his wanting to move to the city at all. As they closed in rapidly, he suddenly remembered his mother's words.
'It does not matter where you are or what situation you are in, always fight for your honor. And even if death is inevitable, don't go down without a fight. Fight and bring them down with you. You are Wilder, never forget that!'
Wilson took in a deep breath and looked at the closest prisoner to him with a smile. The prisoner was holding a sword with the intention to swing it down at Wilson when he saw he smile. The smile was so confident and happy that he froze in place. Wilson swung his fist at his exposed face with such force that his neck twisted, killing him before he could get out of his dazed state. The sword dropped from his hand still outstretched, hanging in the air. Wilson caught it before it touched the ground and looked at it. It's well sharpened. Very good! Wilson's smile brightened as his mother's words kept ringing inhis head.
'Bring them down with you!....you are a Wilder, never forget that!'